AHS: Freak Show episode 4, “Edward Mordrake: Part 2,” claimed the purest freak to join his weary band of travelers. Find out who he chose and what’s going on with Twisty in our full recap!

In what may be hailed as American Horror Story‘s greatest storytelling hour, the grail of Mordrake’s desire is captured. The second face of Edward Mordrake feeds on the delicious moments when all hope is lost and misery takes hold. The freaks and lost souls who take the calling to redeem themselves in light of tragedy but see not the darkness of their actions belong with Mordrake on the other side.

The Darkest Hour: Legless Suzi stabbed a man in the legs, caring more about ruining the appendages than the man, and gained the inspiration to perform. Paul the illustrated Seal tattooed his body and gave the public what they wanted, a monster. But he left his face alone because, “He’s a handsome lad.” Can you imagine that mug on a normal body? He could have ruled the world! Pepper dances around the stage without a darkest hour to feed the face that feeds on misery.

Berlin, 1932: Elsa Mars anticipates the arrival of the man predicted to bring her fame and glory by Miss Esmerelda. Her delusional ignorance to Mordrake’s presence and her overwhelming desire to use her wiles to win the gaze of man blinds her to the reason for his visit. Boasting herself above all with contempt for those she guards, especially when she is nothing more than a freak herself, reveals the truth of her character. Mordrake will have nothing to do with her act any longer and demands the darkest hour come to light.

With no work available on the stage in the Weimar Republic of the 1930s, the city took to the underground and found a place to live out any dark fantasy the citizens could conjure. Elsa Mars was sought after for her prowess as a French cat, a dominatrix who would not let a soul lay a finger on her. Eventually she attracted a group who paid handsomely, known as the watchers.

Her acts led her to the Hotel Olympia, where a series of films were made, only this time there was no costar awaiting her on set. She was drugged enough to render her powerless, but not enough to forget the torture or numb the pain. The snuff film took her legs by saw and left her to die. A poor soldier boy who fell in love with her saved her from death. The film made her a star, but her career was over. Pleading with Mordrake to take her life, the face confirms that she was the one. Raising the dagger, music plays off in the distance; another act is taking the stage, calling Mordrake away.

Come one, come all: In the woods, Dandy stumbles upon Jimmy and Maggie, who witnessed Twisty taking the runaway girl back to his camp. Knocking them out cold, he drags them as a present to Twisty and sets up Maggie in a box, intending to saw her in half. Twisty takes the stage as the musical toy box accompanist, reveling in the thrill of a stage and an audience, even if they are there against their will. Jimmy becomes untied and tackles Dandy, setting Maggie free. Twisty demands applause, screaming, “CLAP! CLAP!” from behind his mask. But Maggie takes the children and flees, leaving Jimmy to the mercy of the giant clown.

Inside the bus, Mordrake arrives, ready to hear the tale of Twisty’s nightmarish past.

Remove your mask: Twisty calms down after he removes his mask, revealing the missing portion of his lower jaw. Focusing his mind, Twisty goes to where it all begins, the freak show in 1943 when clowns where in demand. He loved the performance art, the children, but not the freaks. They were threatened by his popularity and scared him away with threats that the children were saying he did unspeakable things to them. A simpleton in his mind and spirit, the clown fled with the stories of his false crimes following him in the small circuit. He went back to Jupiter, FL, but his mother was dead and he had no hope of being a clown any longer.

He decided to turn over a new leaf in life and turn garbage into gold, a la Rumpelstiltskin. But the shop owners and children of the town did not take a liking to his character or goods and services. His desperation scared the children rather than amused them and he lost all hope when he saw the looks on their faces. Convinced he was at his end, he tried to take his own life, sticking a shot gun in his mouth. Heartbreakingly, the clown admits, “I had one good idea, but I was so dumb, I couldn’t even kill myself.”

He tried to renew his life once again with the cards he was dealt, but even the local freak show, Elsa’s freak show, turned his balloon art away in favor of the deformities paying customers sought inside the tent.

A good clown and a good deed: In Twisty’s mind he was saving the children from the freaks. The children forgot how much they once loved the clown and needed to be reminded how nice it was to not have a babysitter, to have no chores. In the flashbacks, we see the store owner Twisty returns to murder, the boy he takes from the clutches of the mother who hides her son from him, shedding light on some of the murders.

The Mordrake face whispers that Twisty’s time has come to join the as the grail. Stabbing the clown to death, when Mordrake offers his hand, Twisty rises from his body, face in tact, and his spirit rejuvenated.

When the sun comes up over Twisty’s camp, Jimmy and Maggie are praised as heroes by the same cops who just condemned the troupe and killed Meep a few nights prior. Regardless of the cops impressions, Jimmy returns to the grounds while whispers of his heroism sweep the town. In a tender moment, the town and freaks come together as one, before Elsa jumps in to bring in some money from their admiration with tickets to the show.

Stanley, Maggie’s partner in crime, arrives under the guise of a talent agent from Hollywood looking for new acts. Elsa invites him into the show, with Dell, Bette, and Dot, uneasy about the new changes in power.

The truly twisted: The mask may have fallen from Twisty, but it does not lie for long. Perhaps the name better fits the truly deserving character, Dandy Mott, who appears back in his home armed with garden shears and no time for Nora’s sass. Slicing her throat, Dandy watches as her body falls to the ground. First his eyes light up behind the mask in horror, but a slow smile creeps across his mouth as a fit of manic laughter takes over the newest threat to AHS.

Watch AHS: Freak Show episode 5, “Pink Cupcakes,” Wednesday, November 5 at 10:00 p.m. ET on FX.